Moreno Argentines (), also known as Mixed Argentines (), are

Argentines Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

who do not have a predominant ancestry due to their mixed origin, these stand out for having

brown skin Brown is a racialized classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a light to moderate brown complexion. In the age of scientific racism In the 18th and 19th century, European writer ...

. These originated due to the

miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is marriage or admixture between people who are members of different races or ethnicities. It has occurred many times throughout history, in many places. It has occasionally been controversial or illegal. Adjectives describin ...

that occurred during the viceregal and post-independence period (mainly between

whites White is a racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly European ancestry. It is also a skin color specifier, although the definition can vary depending on context, nationality, ethnicity and point of view. De ...

and

natives There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

, to a lesser extent

blacks Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ch ...

), this was classified under the colonial caste system, some terms that were used are

Pardo In the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, ''pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') are triracial descendants of Europeans, Indigenous Americans and Africans. History In some places they were defined as neither exclusively ...

Mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

Mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

Zambo Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian, Indigenous Amerindian and West African people, African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the ...

, among other. Moreno Argentines are currently the second largest group in the Argentine Republic.

History

Argentina had, like the rest of the viceroyalties, a mix between

Spaniards Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance-speaking ethnic group native to the Iberian Peninsula, primarily associated with the modern nation-state of Spain. Genetically and ethnolinguistically, Spaniards belong to the broader Southern a ...

Amerindians In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

and

Sub-saharan Africans Sub-Saharan Africa is the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lie south of the Sahara. These include Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, and West Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the African countries and territ ...

. Within the

Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata The Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata or Viceroyalty of Buenos Aires ( or Virreinato de Buenos Aires or ) meaning "River of the Silver", also called the "Viceroyalty of River Plate" in some scholarly writings, in southern South America, was ...

, the only region that had real value for the Spanish crown was

Upper Peru Upper Peru (; ) is a name for the land that was governed by the Real Audiencia of Charcas. The name originated in Buenos Aires towards the end of the 18th century after the Audiencia of Charcas was transferred from the Viceroyalty of Peru to th ...

due to the Potosí Mines, the current Argentine territory was mainly livestock so it did not have a strong economic interest and there was no important arrival of

black slaves The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage. Europeans est ...

as in the rest of America, it was also always the least populated region of the

Spanish Empire The Spanish Empire, sometimes referred to as the Hispanic Monarchy (political entity), Hispanic Monarchy or the Catholic Monarchy, was a colonial empire that existed between 1492 and 1976. In conjunction with the Portuguese Empire, it ushered ...

. Within the viceroyalty of the Río de la Palta, there is not a very marked caste system compared to other viceroyalties such as

New Spain New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( ; Nahuatl: ''Yankwik Kaxtillan Birreiyotl''), originally the Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain. It was one of several ...

New Granada New Granada may refer to various former national denominations for the present-day country of Colombia: *New Kingdom of Granada, from 1538 to 1717 *Viceroyalty of New Granada, from 1717 to 1810, re-established from 1816 to 1822 *United Provinces of ...

, the most marked difference there was, was the difference in the political power that existed between those born In Spain with respect to the other castes, which generated displeasure, this was one of the several reasons why an independence sentiment was created. During the

Argentine War of Independence The Argentine War of Independence () was a secessionist civil war (until 1816) fought from 1810 to 1818 by Argentine patriotic forces under Manuel Belgrano, Juan José Castelli, Martín Miguel de Güemes, Martin Miguel de Guemes and José de ...

, the troops that fought were made up of Argentines of various origins (

criollos In Hispanic America, criollo () is a term used originally to describe people of full Spanish descent born in the viceroyalties. In different Latin American countries, the word has come to have different meanings, mostly referring to the local ...

coyotes The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely relat ...

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

s, etc.), one of the most prominent was Sergeant Juan Bautista Cabral who sacrificed himself in the Battle of San Lorenzo to help Colonel

José de San Martín José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...

whose horse had fallen during the combat. He was a Zambo since his father was an indigenous person of

Guaraní Guarani, Guaraní or Guarany may refer to Ethnography * Guaraní people, an indigenous people from South America's interior (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia) * Guarani language, or Paraguayan Guarani, an official language of Paraguay * G ...

origin and his mother was a black slave of Angolan origin. Another notable Argentine of mixed origin was Sergeant Major

María Remedios del Valle María Remedios del Valle (ca. 1768–1847) also known as the "Madre de la Patria" (Father of the Nation, Mother of the Homeland) was a pardo soldier who participated in the Argentine War of Independence on the side of the United Provinces of the ...

, who accompanied the

Army of the North The Army of the North (), contemporaneously called Army of Peru (), was one of the armies deployed by the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata in the Spanish American wars of independence. Its objective was freeing the Argentine Northwest a ...

as an auxiliary and combatant during the

First Upper Peru campaign The First Upper Peru campaign was a military campaign of the Argentine War of Independence, which took place in 1810. It was headed by Juan José Castelli, and attempted to expand the influence of the Buenos Aires May Revolution in Upper Peru (mo ...

; she was listed in her military records as parda. Mainly between 1880 and 1930 there was a great wave of immigration from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, many of the Moreno Argentines married and had children with the millions of immigrants who quickly became the majority, this caused much of the country to have a predominantly

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

ancestry. Similar to

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

and White Brazil, the current face of Argentina has become overwhelmingly

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

in culture and tradition, although a few native traditions persist.

Mixing of Amerindians and Caucasians in the viceregal era

Mixing of Sub-Saharans and Caucasians in the viceregal era

Although they have the same amount of Spanish blood, the

castizo ''Castizo''Pronunciation in Latin American Spanish: (fem. ''Castiza'') was a racial category used in 18th-century Spanish America to refer to people who were three-quarters Spanish by descent and one-quarter Amerindian. The category of ''casti ...

s were lighter skinned and had more Spanish features, while the

moriscos ''Moriscos'' (, ; ; " Moorish") were former Muslims and their descendants whom the Catholic Church and Habsburg Spain commanded to forcibly convert to Christianity or face compulsory exile after Spain outlawed Islam. Spain had a sizeable M ...

had more mixed features and brown skin so they were not considered to have a predominant ancestry.

South American immigration

After the return to democracy in 1983, there was an increase in South American immigration (mainly

Bolivian Bolivian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Bolivia ** Bolivian people ** Demographics of Bolivia ** Culture of Bolivia * SS Bolivian, SS ''Bolivian'', later SS ''Alfios'', a British-built standard cargo ship {{disambiguation ...

Paraguayan Paraguayans () are the citizens of Paraguay. Though the majority of Paraguayans reside in Paraguay, significant communities have been established in multiple countries, most noticeably Argentina, Spain, United States, Brazil. History The first ...

and

Peruvian Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

) that settled mainly in the

Villas Miseria ''Villa miseria'' (), ''villa de emergencia'' or simply ''villa'', is the informal term used in Argentina for shanty town slums. Name The term is a noun phrase made up of the Spanish words ''villa'' (''village'', ''small town'') and ''miseria'' ( ...

(squatter settlement), around large cities and border cities such as

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Salta Province, the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the List of cities in Argentina, 7th most-populous ...

, Mendoza,

San Salvador San Salvador () is the Capital city, capital and the largest city of El Salvador and its San Salvador Department, eponymous department. It is the country's largest agglomeration, serving as the country's political, cultural, educational and fin ...

, Posadas,

Córdoba Córdoba most commonly refers to: * Córdoba, Spain, a major city in southern Spain and formerly the imperial capital of Islamic Spain * Córdoba, Argentina, the second largest city in Argentina and the capital of Córdoba Province Córdoba or Cord ...

Formosa Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The island of Taiwan, formerly known to Westerners as Formosa, has an area of and makes up 99% of the land under ROC control. It lies about across the Taiwan Strait f ...

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city, located northwest of Buenos Aires on the west bank of the Paraná River, is the third-most populous city in the ...

, etc. These immigrants have a higher birth rate than the national average and over time brought cultural customs foreign to Argentina, such as

cumbia villera Cumbia villera () (roughly translated as "slum cumbia", "ghetto cumbia", or " shantytown cumbia", from '' villa miseria'', "slum") is a subgenre of cumbia music originating in Argentina in the late 1990s and popularized all over Latin America an ...

(based on

peruvian cumbia Peruvian cumbia (Spanish: ''Cumbia Peruana'') is a subgenre of cumbia that became popular in the coastal cities of Peru, mainly in Lima in the 1960s through the fusion of local versions of the original Colombian genre, traditional highland hu ...

). According to the 2022 census, the

Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area Greater Buenos Aires (, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (, AMBA), refers to the urban area, urban agglomeration comprising the Buenos Aires, Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adjacent 24 ''partidos of Buenos Aires, ...

(AMBA) has a total of 1,159,446 immigrants in its territory, 59.96% of the entire country. This represents 8.29% of the entire AMBA population. More than 82% of the immigrants are of American origin, the main communities being:

Paraguayans Paraguayans () are the citizens of Paraguay. Though the majority of Paraguayans reside in Paraguay, significant communities have been established in multiple countries, most noticeably Argentina, Spain, United States, Brazil. History The first ...

(32.46%),

Bolivians Bolivians () are people identified with the country of Bolivia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Bolivians, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being B ...

(15.75%),

Venezuelans Venezuelans ( Spanish: ''venezolanos'') are the citizens identified with the country of Venezuela. This connection may be through citizenship, descent or cultural. For most Venezuelans, many or all of these connections exist and are the source ...

(10.68%),

Peruvians Peruvians (''/peruanas'') are the citizens of Peru. What is now Peru has been inhabited for several millennia by cultures such as the Caral before the Spanish conquest in the 16th century. Peruvian population decreased from an estimated 5–9 ...

(9.16%) and

Chileans Chileans (, ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the country of Chile and its neighboring insular territories. Most Chileans share a common culture, history, ancestry and language. The overwhelming majority of Chileans are the product o ...

(7.71%). Due to the cultural shock and social problems generated by new immigrants and their descendants, such as

crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...

, a feeling of xenophobia and rejection towards this group arose in Argentine society. A common term to refer to the descendants of Bolivians born in Argentina is "Boligaucho".

Demographics

There is no official census data on the number of people in the Argentine Republic who do not have a predominant ancestry. In 1778 a census was taken to find out the number of people who lived in the current Argentine area of the viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. According to this census, Argentina only had 185,920 people, of which 3.31% (about 6,134 people) were

mestizos ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed Ethnic groups in Europe, European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to ...

(mixed Amerindians and Spaniards), the

mulatto ( , ) is a Race (human categorization), racial classification that refers to people of mixed Sub-Saharan African, African and Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry only. When speaking or writing about a singular woman in English, the ...

es,

zambo Zambo ( or ) or Sambu is a racial term historically used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Amerindian, Indigenous Amerindian and West African people, African ancestry. Occasionally in the 21st century, the term is used in the ...

s and

pardo In the former Portuguese and Spanish colonies in the Americas, ''pardos'' (feminine ''pardas'') are triracial descendants of Europeans, Indigenous Americans and Africans. History In some places they were defined as neither exclusively ...

s despite also being mixed people, were not taken into account and were included as "Blacks" to simplify. It is estimated that the percentage of argentines without a predominant ancestry increases in

provinces A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...

that did not receive such notable immigration from Europe and the Levant, between 1880 and 1930 during the great immigration, these are mainly some of the provinces of the

Argentine Northwest The Argentine Northwest (, NOA) is a geographic and historical region of Argentina comprising the provinces of Catamarca Province, Catamarca, Jujuy Province, Jujuy, La Rioja Province, Argentina, La Rioja, Salta Province, Salta, Santiago del Estero ...

Genetics studies

Large comprehensive studies across Argentina's many regions in order to characterize the genetic admixture have been lacking. Small sample size studies give the following composition. It is estimated that because in the mix between European and Levantine immigrants who were the majority and Argentines from that time who became a minority, it caused modern Argentines to have a predominantly Caucasian Mediterranean ancestry (mainly

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

and South French) in the

criollo Criollo or criolla (Spanish for creole) may refer to: People * Criollo people, a social class in the Spanish colonial system. Animals * Criollo duck, a species of duck native to Central and South America. * Criollo cattle, a group of cattle bre ...

range. A team led by Daniel Corach conducted a study in 2009, analyzing 246 samples from eight provinces and three different regions of the country. The results were as follows: the analysis of

Y-Chromosome The Y chromosome is one of two sex chromosomes in therian mammals and other organisms. Along with the X chromosome, it is part of the XY sex-determination system, in which the Y is the sex-determining chromosome because the presence of the Y ...

DNA revealed a 94.1% of Caucasian contribution, and only 4.9% and 0.9% of Native American and Black African contribution, respectively.

Mitochondrial DNA Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA and mDNA) is the DNA located in the mitochondrion, mitochondria organelles in a eukaryotic cell that converts chemical energy from food into adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Mitochondrial DNA is a small portion of the D ...

analysis again showed a great Amerindian contribution by maternal lineage, at 53.7%, with 44.3% of Caucasian contribution, and a 2% African contribution. The study of 24

autosomal An autosome is any chromosome that is not a sex chromosome. The members of an autosome pair in a diploid cell have the same morphology, unlike those in allosomal (sex chromosome) pairs, which may have different structures. The DNA in autosome ...

markers also proved a large Caucasian contribution of 78.5%, against 17.3% of Amerindian and 4.2% Black African contributions. Several studies found out that the Caucasian ancestry in Argentina comes mainly from the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

and Italian Peninsula with a much lower contribution from

Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54th parallel north, 54°N, or may be based on other ge ...

and

West Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenian ...

. The Italian component appears strongest in the East and Center-West, while the Spanish influence dominates in the North East and North West.

Notable Moreno Argentines

File:La Mona Jiménez 2009-12-09.jpg,

La Mona Jiménez Juan Carlos Jiménez Rufino (born 11 January 1951), known as ''La Mona Jiménez'', is a cuarteto singer and songwriter, heralded as one of the most prominent performers of the genre. Early life Juan Carlos Jiménez Rufino was born on 11 January ...

, an important

cuarteto Cuarteto (), sometimes called cuartetazo, is a musical genre born in Córdoba, Argentina. The roots of the cuarteto ensemble are in Italian and Spanish dance ensembles. The name was coined because the early dance-hall numbers were invariably ...

singer. File:Dibujo_de_María_Remedios_del_Valle.jpg,

, the Mother of the Homeland was

. File:Carlos monzon 1974.jpg, Carlos Roque Monzón, a historic argentine boxer. File:Bernardo_de_Monteagudo.jpg,

Bernardo de Monteagudo Bernardo de Monteagudo (1789–1825) was a political activist and revolutionary. He took part in the liberation struggles in South America, particularly in Argentina. He was born in Tucumán in Argentina, and was assassinated in Lima, Perú. ...

, a political activist and revolutionary. File:InddelVal-Boca_(4).jpg, Carlos Alberto Tevez, a former professional footballer.

References

{{Reflist Ethnic groups in Argentina